A dazzling way to launch Kite Festival

The event at the beach is being held over the first weekend of September rather than in July as previously because of tides – and it will be heralded on Friday evening with an illuminated kite show.

To be held either side of the pier from 8pm, it will culminate in a fireworks and laser display and it is hoped it will entice visitors to the Blackpool Illuminations switch-on to check out the festival over the following two day.

Organisers’ spokesman Pat May said: “We hope people enjoy it – it is something it wouldn’t be possible to do at that time in July as the light evenings are so much longer.”

Last year’s Kite Festival attracted an estimated 35,000 people to St Annes and Pat promises a host of exciting features this year, including kites from as far away as New Zealand.

The fun runs from 11am to 5pm on both Saturday and Sunday.

Coun Cheryl Little, chairman of Fylde Council’s tourism and leisure committee, said: “The Kite Festival is a great event and the Friday night show is a really exciting new feature.”

Meanwhile, the Sunday of the Kite Festival coincides with St Annes’ Lifeboat Fun Day. The event at the RNLI boathouse on the Promenade runs from 11am to 4pm and, along with a host of stalls and games, offers a last chance to board the station’s current all-weather lifeboat Her Majesty the Queen before she is replaced early next year by a new Shannon-class lifeboat.